Getting Ready to tackle PG&E's ACT Test

First of all the disclaimers.

Printing my practice tests out and working the problems and knowing how to do the problems is not a guarantee of actually passing the test. I am attempting to make this practice test more difficult than the actual test, although individual problems may be easier.

This practice test is still in development. I'm afraid as of January 10, 2010, it is not even complete. Problems 38, 39 and 40 are not yet done. I expect to have them done by the end of January, but I also expected to be done by June of last year.

To see the test, I am afraid you need to use a relatively modern Javascript enabled browser. That will change, as I believe in cross browser functionality, but this is a project I am working on at odd moments, and sometimes those are few and far between. I have not tested this in all browsers, just Firefox and Microsoft's product. I have seen it rendered on the iPhone. My code is still not perfect and has a few bugs, especially with Microsoft (though I'm not convinced it isn't Microsoft's idea of what a feature should be,) but the logic should be good.

This is not a tutorial. A tutorial for this test is possible, but there are aspects of the test that an online tutorial will not address. One is the pure tedium of the test. You might finish the test in a quarter the time alotted, but you would be stupid to not check, re-check, and then re-check a few more times every thing. Another thing is handwriting and legibility. Between perfect arithmetic and bad handwriting, the bad handwriting will always win. A certain amount of lore has developed about this test. For instance, the phrases "5 ft. 0 in." and "5 ft." are not identical, and thinking they are will lose you points.

That said, when this test is done, and even now incompleted, I still expect it to be useful. Print it out, and mark it up. The answers are at the bottom. Time yourself.

Any questions, comments, suggestions or compliments, let me know. My non-PG&E email is stephen@dennisandstephen.com. You may also contact me through San Jose meter reading, or just ask around for my phone number.

Thank you, and good luck, and my prayers, of course, are with you too.